Lysoft Home Video Arcade Mark I (Game Console)
The Lysoft Home Video Arcade Mark I is a game console released in 1981. It featured full color graphics, and games comparable to what was in the arcades at the time, even beating the Famicom in that respect. It had 96 colors, selectable palettes of any 5 colors (Including transparency), a 256x250 built in screen, built in stereo speakers, and much more! It was about the size of a Vectrex as far as height goes, but three times as wide, and it weighed about 10 pounds. One of the unique features of the Home Video Arcade was that, with 6 C batteries, it could be taken on the go as a portable console, and last up to an astounding (at the time) 8 hours at full charge. It featured 2 controller ports, and usually came with at least one controller, which was similar to a Sega Genesis 3 button pad, but more square, with a small micro-switched joystick instead of a d-pad, and with a select and (on Deluxe controllers) a Turbo button. The original 1981 release of the console came pack-in with a 2-game compilation developed by Lysoft, called "Lysoft Multi-Pack Collection Volume 1". It featured 2 games, "Fight and Flight", a war-themed Shoot-'em-Up based on World War 2, and "Frogs", a Frogger knockoff. In 1981, 32 games were released, most being arcade ports or arcade-style games. Around late 1981 and early 1982, different styles of games were started on, such as the unorthodox (at the time) December 1981 console RPG, Wizardry I: The Tomb of Alamazar, that ran in a streamlined style similar to the later Dragon Quest. This game brought success to the console, making it more than just a portable arcade. In July 1982, Wizardry II: Into the Abyss was released, becoming the best selling non-pack-in game on the console, selling an astounding 16,000 copies for the console, which only usually sold 1,000 of each game on average. December 1982's Wizardry III: The Gates of Inferno sold a little bit less, at 14,000 copies, but nonetheless fantastic for the console. The death of the original Wizardry games was with May 1983's Wizardry IV: Cove of Sorrow, which only sold 2,000 copies out of the planned 12,000. This caused them to stop creating them, thinking that only 500 copies would sell for the next game. After this, the killer apps for the system were mostly third party, except for a few games, like the Fight and Flight series, which spanned 3 games and sold 38,000 copies in total between all of them, including the 22,000 copies of the original sold with the console as a pack in. In November 1985, the Home Video Arcade Mark II was released, simply called the Lysoft Video Arcade Mark II. On July 1st, 1987, the Mark I was officially discontinued. First edition and second edition (1981 and 1982) consoles have a faulty internal battery that had an average life expectancy of 15 years. Third edition consoles (1985) have a higher-end internal battery that has an average expectancy of 60 years, but these units are few and far between, with only about 800 produced. This has caused the console to be scarce in recent years, with fewer and fewer consoles existing. First edition consoles seem to be much more resistant to the battery exploding, with extra protection around the battery, and somewhat better wiring. But, upon the bulk production of second edition consoles, the extra protection was cut, and cheaper wiring techniques were used, that could cause the whole console to break upon the loss of one part.